Perfect Circles
by TomatoSoupful
Summary: One-shot. It's Ed and Al's first alchemy lesson with Izumi. What could possibly go wrong?


**Author's Note: This is me, rewriting the first chapter of an old FMA fanfic I wrote a while ago. I took it off this website cause, well, it sucked. And who knows, this probably sucks too but I wanted to write this.**

 **Don't own FMA**

~o0o~

 _ **Perfect Circles**_

"The moon's a perfect circle."

"No, it's not."

Alphonse rolled his eyes. His older brother always did this. "It looks like it though," he answered, turning away from the window.

Below in the bottom bunk bed, Edward snorted. "Doesn't matter. It just looks like that cause it's far away. The moon's got hills and stuff on it."

"Hmm," Al buried his head in his pillow, content to let the matter slide.

Too bad Ed wasn't on the same page. The older boy below pulled off the bed sheets, jumped to grab the bed railing and hauled himself up. Face to face with his brother, Ed cheekily grinned. "Admit it. Tell me I'm right."

"Why do you need me to say it?" Al suddenly felt exhausted. All of last month was catching up on him. Surviving on an isolated island with no adult supervision wasn't exactly a common occurrence.

Ed's grin grew wider at Al's reluctance. "Fine then but guess what? _I_ know what we're learning tomorrow."

Immediately, Al perked up. "Really? How? What is it?"

"I overheard Teacher," Ed explained. "…and I'm not telling until –"

Al grabbed his pillow and smacked his brother with it. It was only a short fall to the ground, so Al didn't feel too guilty when he heard Ed groan and grumble. "Good _night_ brother," Al said shortly, then squeezed his eyes shut, eagerly awaiting tomorrow's first lesson on alchemy.

~o0o~

"That pancake's a perfect circle."

"No, it's not."

Al slouched and gave his brother a look. Ed's snickering was interrupted by Teacher ordering him to help her set the table. Al stayed by his teacher's husband's side. All of Sig's concentration was focused on the stove. The smell reminded Al of the slow mornings when his mother would cook, and the boys would help, and the mailman would deliver letters. Al wished he had noticed back then how his mother had skimmed through the letters, searching for a name.

"Knife on the right side, not on the left," Teacher instructed.

Edward switched the cutlery around. "Good?"

"Good," Teacher saw Al watching them. "Alphonse, fill the glasses up with water please?"

"Sure."

Minutes later the four were seated and breakfast was served. Al slathered honey onto his pancake as Ed sprinkled sugar and lemon on his. When everyone moved on to their second serving, Teacher spoke up, "After you're dressed and cleaned, meet me in the front yard for today's lesson."

Al's heart leapt. "What are we learning?"

"How about some patience?" Teacher said with a frown, taking a sip of coffee. "Concern yourself with breakfast first, Alphonse."

Not daring to challenge his teacher, Al did as he was told, purposely refusing to look at his brother who he _knew_ was stewing in his glee for knowing something he didn't. Later when the boys were brushing their teeth, Al finished before Ed and proceeded to lock him in the bathroom. He ran off to meet his Teacher in the front yard, ignoring the sound of fists banging the door.

~o0o~

"Wow, Teacher! That's a perfect circle!"

"No, it's not."

Al sighed roughly. "Look at it, if that's not perfect then it's pretty close."

Before Ed had the chance to reply, Teacher cut in. "And that's the best we can do. We could train all our lives but still never draw a 'perfect' circle. However, this is _not_ an excuse to be lazy. Every alchemist must be proficient at drawing all shapes for transmutation circles. Got it?"

Both boys nodded.

Teacher handed the brothers a pencil and a piece of paper each. There was a stack more on the other end of the table. As Ed played with the pencil, spinning it with his fingers, Al admired the front yard of their teacher's house. Dublith was far busier and dense in concrete than anything back in Resembool, but the tall grass and wooden table they sat at were enough to make Al feel right at home.

Teacher crossed her arms and said sternly, "Alright. What are we _not_ going to do?"

Al and Ed exchanged looks and shrugged. Teacher's scowl deepened. "We are _not_ going to make a competition out of our lessons. Alchemy is a science and a science cannot be rushed, no matter how smart you think you are, _Edward._ "

Ed's words died at his lips. He shut his mouth. Al barely contained a smirk.

"With that being said, today's lesson is practising our circles. Quality alchemy begins with a quality transmutation circle."

Al nodded, understanding the logic. Ed's face however was pinched. "But…I thought we were – I mean – why circles? We're good at drawing those already. Can't we learn how to draw the really complicated stuff?"

Teacher shook her head. "No, that comes later. _Much_ later." She jabbed Ed's paper. "Hop to it. I'm off to do the groceries. I expect to see quality circles in an hour."

She went to leave but Al softly asked, "So, wait, are we to just practise drawing circles over and over again until we get it right? Or is there another way?"

"I'm sure you boys are smart enough to figure that out yourselves."

Al slumped in his seat. Ed scribbled uncoherent nonsense on his paper, pressing the pencil down hard. Just as Teacher walked out onto the main road, she called back, "Oh and Edward, refrain from eavesdropping in the future. Some might call that 'rude.'"

As Edward's cheeks burned, Al cackled.

~o0o~

"Now _that's_ a perfect circle."

"No, it's –"

"– you know what I mean!"

Al kicked his brother's shins under the table.

"Ow!" Ed tried to do the same, but Al folded his legs up and out of the way. Scowling, Ed leaned forward, "Lemme see – hey!"

Al covered the paper with his arms. "No way. You'll make fun of it."

"No, I won't."

"Yes, you will! You always do."

Deciding Al's drawings weren't worth the trouble, Ed went back to his. He wiped a layer of sweat off his forehead. The morning breeze had eased away and all that was left was increasingly hot sunny weather. Ed remembered Winry saying Dublith had a colder climate to Resembool so the boys had packed clothing to handle it. What a liar. When he saw Al pulling up his sleeves and airing out his shirt, he guessed Al was thinking the same thing.

He was correct.

"It's so hot," Al whined "Do you think Teacher will leave us out here until we draw the circles perfectly?"

"As close to perfect as they can be," Edward corrected. "And yeah, properly." He made another attempt in one quick swoop and inspected it with a critical eye. "Ehhh, that's alright."

Al went to look but Ed laid his chest on top of it. "Nuh-uh. _You're_ not allowed to see it."

"Fine, whatever."

Al approached his next circle slowly, carefully, the way his mother had told him to make his bed. Don't throw the covers and pillows and make a run for it (like your brother), take your time. When Al finished the circle, he found that three quarters of it was quite good but the last quarter bulged out like it was bruised. It looked like Ed when he had smacked face into a pole on their way back from school one day.

The door to their Teacher's house opened and out came Sig carrying two glasses of iced orange juice with coloured straws. The brothers gleefully thanked the man and accepted their drinks. Ed used his older sibling card and reached for the one with a red straw. "…and that's why I should get my favourite colour!"

Feeling mischievous, Al pulled out his younger sibling card and gave puppy dog eyes. "B-but I love red too."

"What? No, you don't!"

Al pretended to look affronted. "Yes, I do. Oh please, mister Sig, I really want that one. _Please_."

Sig handed Al the drink with a red straw. Al happily drank his orange juice, acting as though he couldn't feel Ed's frustration radiating from across the table. Sig went back inside, promising himself to not get caught up in any argument between those boys less he wanted to get caught in the chaos.

Meanwhile, back outside, Ed grumpily chewed on his purple straw, and Al tried another circle. He held his pencil up and critiqued his work. It was…

…pretty good. Al could see small problems here and there, little bumps, but it looked like the moon last night! Al released a triumphant laugh. "I did it! I reckon Teacher will be proud of this."

Ed's eyebrows furrowed and checked it out. Al knew by Ed's silence that he must have done a good job. He waited for his brother to admit defeat. Golden eyes met his. "Yeah, it's uhhh…"

With an exaggerated sigh, Ed tipped his orange juice, spilling most of it onto Al's close-to-perfect circle. With a cry, Al flung his paper away spraying orange juice all over himself and his brother. Al tried flapping the paper to dry it off but already he could see his quality circle fading away amongst orange pulp. Al let the paper drop to the ground. Fuming, he turned back to his brother.

Ed had his elbows propped on the table with his chin resting in his palms. A massive shit-eating grin took up half his face. "Problem, Al?"

Al pressed his hands together. They felt uncomfortably sticky. He committed to an idea. "Yeah, uhhh, I think you got something on your face."

Ed frowned. "What –?"

In a split second, Al tossed his drink right on target. Unfortunately, Al only had a short moment to soak in his brother's spluttering before Ed grabbed the rest of his drink and flung it at him too, all over his shirt. Al shrivelled up. Then launched at his brother. Before long, the two were wrestling each other on the ground (Al was obviously winning), mixing up dirt and grass with orange juice to make an odd smoothie on their clothing.

"Boys."

Said boys froze.

Teacher stood by the front gate. Her eyes darted from the abandoned papers and pencil, to them. Ed and Al opened their mouths to defend themselves, but their Teacher's cold sharp voice cut in first. "Before either of you try to tell me who started it, ask yourself this: do you really think that will work on me? Or better yet, do you really think I will care?"

The brothers crumbled. They muttered apologies and cleaned up the table in obedient silence, but not without shooting each other death glares every time they made eye contact. As they placed their empty glasses in the sink, they spotted Sig who muttered, "I'll just give you both red straws next time."

Feeling a little ashamed Al stressed that the colour really wasn't all that important to him (Ed was the real cry baby about it). Ed muttered darkly under his breath, something about causing a problem for nothing, but Al wasn't paying his brother too much attention. Their teacher called them outside.

Apprehensive was putting it lightly. As they slowly walked back out, Ed scrunched his wet shirt in his hands and Al's eyes were firmly rooted to the ground. With hands on her hips, Teacher directed the boys to stand before a wall. Ed grimly wondered if they were on the death row, while Al noticed two towels on the table… then the hose by his Teacher's feet.

Both boys heard a squeak. Sig had followed them and turned a handle. Teacher grabbed the hose and directed it towards them. There was a rumble and then water bursting out and splashing all over them. Ed and Al would deny it later, but they squealed and recoiled from the sudden temperature drop. But then, as Teacher motioned the water between the two, washing the orange juice, dirt and grass away, both the brothers dissolved into laughter as the sun's sweltering heat was lost in the cool water. They even saw Teacher and Sig wearing smiles. So, it felt a little silly to still be cranky for something so trivial.

Ed and Al shared apologetic grins, then tried using their hands to direct the water to each other. Later, when they were dry, adorned with fresh new clothing, and fresh off one of the many lectures their Teacher would give them, they both drew their circles and presented them for assessment.

Teacher quietly looked between the two drawings and nodded. "Good. Not perfect but nothing ever is. You'll be better with time."

Ed and Al beamed with shared pride.

~o0o~

"So, this is the circle that will bring back mum?"

"Yes, and it's perfect."


End file.
